Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, BINSEY POPLARS (FELLED 1879), by GERARD MANLEY HOPKINS


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

BINSEY POPLARS (FELLED 1879), by                 Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled
Last Line: Sweet especial rural scene.
Subject(s): Aspen Trees; Environment; Holidays; Nature; New Year; Poplar Trees; Trees; Environmental Protection; Ecology; Conservation


My aspens dear, whose airy cages quelled,
Quelled or quenched in leaves the leaping sun,
All felled, felled, are all felled;
Of a fresh and following folded rank
Not spared, not one
That dandled, and sundalled
Shadow that swam or sank
On meadow and river and wind-wandering weed-winding bank.

O if we but knew what we do
When we delve or hew --
Hack and rack the growing green!
Since country is so tender
To touch, her being so slender,
That, like this sleek and seeing ball
But a prick will make no eye at all,
Where we, even where we mean
To mend her we end her,
When we hew or delve:

After-comers cannot guess the beauty been.
Ten or twelve, only ten or twelve
Strokes of havoc unselve
The sweet especial scene,
Rural scene, a rural scene,
Sweet especial rural scene.




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